Suchergebnisse

Through a case study, this article explores the question of whether and how actions taken by a collaborative alliance influence the strategic behavior of its nonprofit members. The article then assesses how well the existing strategy formulation models accommodate an environment of collaborative alliances. The study finds that this and other local partnerships increased the complexity of the nonprofits' decision-making environment; had amplifying and rippling effects on their strategic direction; and changed, to some degree, perceptions of managerial roles. Despite these effects, organization-level strategic planning did not take into account the actions and decisions of these partnerships. The article argues that traditional strategy formulation models often assume a more static and apolitical environment than is the case when collaborative alliances are a significant part of that environment.

Using a historical case study, this article presents an analysis of the evolution of a nonprofit organization and its governance structure as it was transformed from a grassroots and advocacy agency into a multimillion dollar contractor with the state. The case illustrates how boardfunctions, composition, and board management relations significandy changed in response to an environment increasingly organized around government's contracting out for services. The article argues that these changes can be understood as responses to contradictory logics embedded in the nonprofit's environment whereby competing beliefs and ideologies eventually ledto the creation of two distinct butloosely coupled organizations.

In ihrer historischen Studie zur Entwicklung einer US-amerikanischen Organisation aus der Behindertenbewegung geht die Autorin der Frage nach, inwieweit Lern- und Anpassungsprozesse von Non-Profit-Organisationen in einer weitgehend staatlich dominierten Umwelt die Durchsetzung der eigenen Anliegen ermöglichen. Besonderes Augenmerk verdienen dabei Kontroll- und Führungsprobleme der Organisationen. Vorgestellt werden Untersuchungen zu Kontroll- und Vermittlungsfunktionen der "boards" und zur innerorganisatorischen Machtverteilung. Die Ergebnisse der Fallstudie zeigen, daß die untersuchte Organisation sich gegenüber dem drohenden Risiko behauptet, ein "verlängerter Arm des Staates" zu werden. Dies setzt freilich eine aktive Auseinandersetzung mit den genannten Anpassungszwängen voraus. (ICE)

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between board characteristics and formal organizational planning in forty‐four nonprofit organizations. The study found that ongoing and beginning planners were more likely than those with no planning experience—or those that had abandoned planning after an initial experience with the process—to have well‐understood missions, boards that concentrated on higher‐level policy issues, and boards that had clear structures for decision making. The data suggest that a coalition consisting of top management and board members needs to exist if a move toward the formalization of organizational structures and processes is to be sustained.

This exploratory study examines formal planning processes in two different nonprofit organizations, those serving the mentally retarded and those in the performing arts, in two distinct geographical areas. Significant differences existed in the major types of Planning pro cesses employed by these nonprofits that seemed to relate to the nature of their funding environments. Important internal and exter nal factors influenced whether these forty-four nonprofits adopted plans for such matters as the size of the organization's budget, the primary function of its board of directors, and interaction with other local nonprofit managers engaged in formal planning. Differences in the extent of planning behavior between the two geographical areas suggests that local structures that support professional manage rial practices influence the diffusion of such practices.